As I turned the corner from my evening walk the other day and continued up a hill, I noticed a small child on the sidewalk around the age of 3. In his hand was a Nerf gun. For those who don’t know what this is, this is a plastic gun called a blaster which has “ammunition” in it in the form of a spongy foam dart. When the blaster is triggered, the dart imitates a faux bullet aimed at a target.
As I walked closer and closer to the child, he got ready with the gun, took his position, placed his hand on the trigger and raised the blaster up like a pro aiming it right at me. While I couldn’t recall if there was indeed a foam dart “loaded” in the gun – this was besides the point – the only thought running through my head was why was this innocent human being playing with an imitation gun that simulates an act to harm.
The child probably didn’t even know what he was doing. To be honest he had such a cute face with a warm smile that as I walked by him I said something along the line as “did you get me?” in a friendly tone, and he simply brought the gun down – and warmly smiled.
I knew deep inside that no harm was going to be done and that he was “only playing.” But what does this incident, through extremely brief, say about the likelihood of the child that he will pick up a real gun and point it at someone in the future?
I don’t want to play the game of probability because just as there is an equal chance this child may pick up a real gun to kill another, he could very well be someone who goes around hugging everyone.
Yet what is disturbing is the number of incidents these days involving little kids and guns – and a lot of these incidents have two major themes in my opinion:
- There is some sort of access to the weapon. The child has access to weapons whether it is a gun that is in a home or walking to the local Walmart or from a friend. Getting access to a gun nowadays seems to be as easy as walking in to a grocery store and buying milk. It’s easily found, and available anywhere. In fact if you are a child with an older sibling who receives a Nerf gun as a gift and that gun is sitting in a toy chest, you better bet that younger will play with the gun.
- There is a basic understanding of how to use the weapon. There are many things that need to be taught like solving complicated math equations and running science experiments, but learning to pull a trigger is as easy as playing in a sand box. For example, video game manufacturers have created toys that simulate pulling of a trigger that make it easy to learn this action. All you have to do is master the art of ready, aim, and fire – and that major snowstorm that allows us to have that snow-ball fight is one of the perfect ways to get trained.
What is most interesting in our society is how the use of weapon imitation and training have proliferated in society. It’s as if children can receive first hand military-like training from childhood. Look at some examples and scenarios where tactical weapon training is so easy:
- Hunting season. During a particular part of the year, seeing Daddy and Mommy head out of the house to hunt animals when you are young raises curiosity in children of what parents are up to and why they are going out carrying their guns. Children want to be part of adult experiences. Not being told to so something triggers enthusiasm for discovery which can be dangerous many times.
- Video games. This is by far one of the easiest way for children to get trained in tactical weaponry. Hand-eye coordination skills can be easily brewed with instincts built to act fast. Get a game at a video place which has that metal fake “gun” installed to the floor that has a triggers and you have simulated majority of mass killing incidents today.
- Games like Paintball and Laser Tag. Here you can learn tactical skills in mobilizing and teaming with others, finding, and shooting the “enemy.”
- Toys like Nerf Guns and games like Dart boards. These games teach kids to hit targets. That’s the main objective. The goal is not just hitting the target in the bullseye, but just hitting any part of the target. While precision is important sometimes in hitting targets, accuracy is more important – you hit any part of the target and you win. Who care’s if you aimed for the head and shot a leg – you got a part of the body and that constitutes victory.
If you conduct an age assessment of using any of the above, initial training in weaponry can begin at the age of 2 with access to any of these tools. The biggest areas of access in my opinion are the following which must be controlled:
- Older Siblings – these kids may have the maturity to use the toys, but it is the younger one who get access from the older kids and this is the fastest way to where the training begins
- Friends – receive a Nerf gun as a gift or take it from a friend and you have the classic case today of “borrowing” a real gun from a friend or family member
- Parents or Relatives – hidden real guns lead small children to explore, discover and find these weapons – it’s a game of hide and seek for them. You can’t lock anything up. Children are way too smart these days to find and unlock things. If a 4-year-old can figure out how to unlock an iPhone, it will be easy for them to get access to a gun that is locked up as well. Look at the news, how many children who either kill themselves from self-triggered wounds or aimed at other people are using guns that were supposedly “locked up?”
I am not sure how to address all of these issues if from the beginning of childhood many kids are getting exposed to the “imitation play“ of violence. It is the shift from “imitation” play to “real” play that is concerning me.
These days, a plastic fake gun has the same features and triggering mechanisms to mimic tactical usage as a metallic real gun. Leveraging games like paintball and laser tag has the same tactical approaches as entering into a rough neighborhood and conducting a drug bust. Playing video games teaches such instincts as quick shooting and survival – not to mention teamwork in annihilating the cyber enemy.
It’s easy to say let’s eliminate these companies producing such products and games – but good luck with that. This is impossible when businesses are at stake and everyone is trying to earn living through these product sales.
However, I think there is some hope – there is only one thing we can drill into youth of today and it’s this – all the games, and tools they are using in “imitation” violent play is just that – a simulation – a fantasy. I am not even sure that parents can teach the difference from right and wrong as the environment of violence has proliferated.
The only thing we can make our children realize is that “imitation” is just that – an illusion of what is real. The illusions are fantasies we are creating that are muddying the waters of our mind.
What is the one action we can do to control this? I think the only way is this – make children cognizant that these games are all illusions that are creating a fantasy world full of untruths and unrealized gains.
The most important thing they need to keep in mind is that the real world that they have been brought into this life to live is one that is loving to all. The violence in the world that we see and hear is the violence that we have created – and just as we have created it, we can also destroy it. By realizing this, the darkness of violence can be overcome and the light of non-violence can prevail.